Improvement in the manufacture of sheet-metal screw-rings



LEWIS F. BETTS.

Manufacture of Sheet Metal Scfew Rings.

Patented April 2, 1872.

FIG. I.

Fljs. 4,

NITED STATES PATENT QFFIOE.

LEWIS F. BETTS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 125,257, dated April 2, 1872.

Specification describing Improvement in Sheet-Metal Screw-Rings, invented by LEWIS F. BETTs, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Improvement in Sheet-Metal ScrewRtngs and Mode of .Makt'ng the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in the screw-rings applied to the threaded necks of fruit-jars for the purpose of confining covers to the same; and my improved screw-rin g consists of a strip of sheet metal bent and locked by a tongue, the latter being formed into a lug, by means of which the ring can be more readily screwed onto and unscrewed from the neck of the jar. My invention further consists of a mode, fully described hereafter of retaining the strip in its proper annular form during the threading process.

Figure l is a view of a strip of metal cut to the proper shape preparatory to being bent to the form of a ring; Fig. 2, the strip bent and locked preparatory to being threaded; Fig. 3, a vertical section of Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a perspective view of the ring as it appears after being threaded; Fig. 5, a perspective view of part of the ring with the lug formed thereon.

The strip A, Fig. 1, is cut from sheet metal, by preference sheet-zinc, and near one end is punched a slat, a, for receiving a tongue, b, formed on the opposite end of the strip. A longitudinal crease, e, is made near the upper edge of the strip, so that aportion of the same may be turned down to form the internal flange f, after which the strip is bent to the form of a ring and the tongue I) is inserted into the slot, as shown in Fig. 2. While in this condition the ringis threaded in a divided screw-chuck having an internal screw-thread. The machine,

for instance, for which Letters Patent were granted September 21,1869, to S. B. lttowley, assignee of Thos. Houghton, may be employed for the purpose, the lip passed through the slot being sufficient to retain the strip in its proper annular form during the threading process, and this lip occupying a position between the two halves of the chuck. After the ring has been thus threaded the tongue may be soldered to the strip and bent so as to form the lug b, Fig. 5, by the aid of which and an appro priate wrench the ring may be easily screwed onto or unscrewed from the neck of the jar.

The screw-ring being made of a simple strip of metal is more economical than one made from a struck-up disk in the usual manner. At the same time the lug I), being a part of the strip, is much more substantial than the lugs soldered on the rings in the common manner.

I claim as my invention, and as a new article of manufacture- 1. A sheet-metal screw-ring made of a strip of metal, and having a lug, 1), form ed by bending the tongue, which locks the opposite ends of the strip together, all substantially as set forth.

2. I also claim the retention of the strip in its annular form, durin g the threading process, by a lip at one end of the strip passing through a slot near the opposite end, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEWIS F. BETTS. Witnesses:

HARRY W. DoUTY, WM. A. STEEL. 

